Strive for ‘100 steps per minute’
You should be taking 100 steps each minute for half an hour a day if you want to achieve “moderate” exercise by walking, a study shows.
Archive for the 'Fitness and Lifestyle Management' Category
As the new year approaches you will be tempted to look at your expanding waistline and say, “I’m going to get in shape”.
The problem with information work is that it always takes longer to accomplish any task than you will admit. Your work day always intrudes on personal time. Personal time you would devote to “getting in shape” mysteriously evaporates.
What you need is a fitness regimen that takes little space, little time, and gets results. How does 11 minutes a day in the space of a yoga mat sound? This isn’t some expensive fad; it’s been around since 1960, it’s effective, and it’s free.
5BX
The program was originally developed as a fitness regimen for the Royal Canadian Air Force by Dr. William (Bill) Orban. The program was simple, took little time and was easily adaptable for everyone, from jet pilots to office workers. The 5BX (5 Basic Exercises) fitness plan debunked the notion that fitness requires sustained, rigorous exercise.
Today some of the most expensive exercise programmes, and one machine that sells for fifteen thousand dollars follow Oban’s fundamental principles.
The only change to 5BX that I would make is to use the abs exercises that I wrote about here to replace the sit-ups in charts 2 through 4.
When you start this don’t jump in with both feet and start on chart 3 or 4. Instead, start at the beginning and do it every morning. If you can’t do it every day due to soreness, then drop down a level or two until you can. Fitness comes from consistency and persistence. Put this in your Monthly Habit List.
You are welcome to download a copy of the 1986-1988 reprint (1.8MB PDF zipped up).
Putting it together
Drilling holes
Use a ⅜″ brad-point drill to make the clearance holes for the leg bolts. With only a hand-held power drill the bolt holes will never be straight. This is not a problem with a couple of bolts in place just re-drill the holes that are crooked - problem solved.
To ensure that the leg does not protrude beyond the foot use a shim under leg when you drill the holes. Use a square and level to make sure the leg and foot will be perpendicular when they are assembled.
The 1/4″ lag screws will require a 1/4″ clearance hole through the stringer and 3/16″ pilot holes in the legs. Drill the pilot holes first then the clearance hole. I suggest drilling these holes as you assemble the desk in place.
Dado & Rabbet Joint
The dado and rabbet joint may be made on a table saw or radial arm saw, but if you lack them use a simple hand powered mitre saw. Use a sharp chisel to clean-up the joint surfaces.
Finish
I chose polyurethane varnish with an included oak stain. This required 5 coats to get a good finish. To apply this finish buy a 3″ and 1.5″ brushes designed for this type of varnish or the finish will be full of streaks and bubbles. Those cheap foam applicators won’t do the job.
Keyboard tray
I purchased a keyboard tray runners from Lee Valley Tools and a simple 16″ x 36″ pine panel from Home Depot. Some sanding and varnish and it was ready. Only one thing - the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard was too high to slide under the desktop. I installed 3/4″ plywood spacers to drop the keyboard shelf and all was well again in my world.
Not enough room for the keyboard
3/4″ spacers added
Assemble in place
To assemble the desk, I took the assembled legs into my office and then added the stringers. Using a square, I aligned the legs carefully and first drilled the pilot holes then the clearance holes in the stringers. With the 1/4″ lag bolts installed the base was ready.
I installed the keyboard tray on the underside of the desktop, then I aligned the desktop on the base. The top was secured using simple angle brackets and screws.
The finished desk
Tools
I designed the desk around the tools I had at hand. A small table saw, jig saw, drill, and router, along with a few hand tools.
Fasteners
This desk was designed around the fasteners. Screws don’t hold very well in end-grain. The 3½” long ⅜″ bolts hold the feet and desktop supports and 1/4″ lag screws go through a lap joint at the end of the stringer and into the leg through the dado rather than into the end-grain of the stringer. You will need ⅜″ and 1/4″ brad point drills for clearance holes and a 3/16″ for pilot holes for the lag screws.
Design
The Baltic Birch plywood comes in 5′ by 5′ sheets. The lumberyard cut this in half for me, but I later found it would have been better if desktop portion was 2″ wider. This would have left a nicer overhang of the feet and desktop supports.
From the smaller portion, cut eight 7½″ high pieces. These should then be cut to a pattern made from bristol board, like the one seen behind the router in the above picture, with a jigsaw or scroll saw. The best of these will become a template to make them all uniform size by using a template bit in your router. The edges that don’t contact the floor or desktop may then be rounded using a ⅜″radius bit.
These large feet and desktop supports will allow you some tolerance for uneven cuts or floors.
The Standing Desk
I started using a standing desk because sitting all day was causing back pain, but I have discovered that working at a standing desk makes me more alert and energetic. My early search for a standing desk that would support two screens and a keyboard was a dismal failure. The desks I found were far too expensive, poorly made, or configured improperly. This led me to design and construct my own.
Desk Height
The first task was to measure from the elbow to the floor with the forearm parallel to the floor. This is the minimum height of the desktop. I made mine ½″ higher than this; an inch higher would be too high.
The Wood
Next, I found a good lumberyard. I chose Baltic Birch plywood because it does not have voids within the plys. This does away with the need for veneer banding or a separate hardwood bull-nose. I used a ⅜″ radius router bit to round the edges. This leaves nice alternating dark and light bands on the edge. I chose Brazilian Oak for the legs and stringers because it was only $2.50 per board foot and the lumberyard would mill it to typical 2″x4″ dimensions and cut it to length.
Office work not only makes you fat, it makes you week. The old saying, “use it or lose it”, applies here. While at a client’s offices recently I saw several standing desks and exercise balls used in place of chairs, so it seems some people understand the problems (though I have reservations about using an exercise ball for a chair). The final two exercises require equipment.
Exercise Ball Crunch
The exercise ball should be the right size. The get the right size, sit on the ball with you butt just barely on the ball and lean back. Your legs should form a right angle.
To do the Exercise Ball Crunch sit on the ball with your butt just barely on the the ball and lean back, but not far enough to arch the lower back. With your arms behind your head, pull your ribs to your pelvis in one smooth movement.
This is difficult. Do just a few the first few times to get the movement correct. You should then do this morning, noon, and just before you quit work each day until you can do a full set of twelve. Then strive for three sets three times a week.
These days, if you have an exercise ball in your office or cubical, nobody will think it is strange, however, lying on the floor and doing the bicycle maneuver will transform you into a curiosity.
The Captain’s Chair
This exercise is the Reverse Crunch done in the Captain’s Chair. Start and finish with the thighs parallel with the floor.
Just like the Reverse Crunch, curl the front of your pelvis towards your ribs and slowly return to the starting position. Strive for two or three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.
A study reported by Ars Technica indicates that “heavy mental effort leads to much bigger meals”. Knowledge work is “a new risk factor … with the potential to lead to overweight in the long-term.”
I was out with a young Private Investigator recently on the 401 highway. This is a 17 lane strip of asphalt inhabited by homicidal maniacs travelling at 120 kph. Being cut-off, rammed from behind when you slow down or brake, or hit by some fool crossing three lanes into your blind spot are all too common.
With traffic like this, its no wonder large pick-up trucks and SUV’s are so common. You need that large a vehicle to survive the impact. You also need to adjust your mirrors properly as I showed my young colleague.
A good article on how to adjust your mirrors can be found at Popular Mechanics. However, the diagram at the top of the article is incorrect. You should not be able to see your rear fenders when sitting upright.
The greatest problem with knowledge work, as I see it, is the desk and chair. One does not move enough throughout the day. Sitting motionless in a chair for extended periods is not good for the back or your waistline.
A 1991 Boeing Study found that sitting puts 40% to 80% more stress on the back than standing [Bigos, S. J., Battie, M. C., Spengler, D. M., Fisher, L. D., Fordyce, W. E., Hansson, T. H., et al. (1991). A prospective study of work perceptions and psychosocial factors affecting the report of back injury. Spine, 16 (1), 16].
Another study suggests that adjustable-height tables might provide relief from the discomfort and inflexibility of fixed-height workstations. Prof. Alan Hedge, the director of Cornell University’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory, investigated this possibility in a 2004 study on the electric height-adjustable work surface, or EHAW.
The EHAW is a table with a built-in electronic control pad. By fiddling with the up and down buttons on the pad, users can sit low to the ground, stand up and otherwise fine-tune the table height in accordance with their preferences. Hedge noted that although EHAWs are common outside the United States and even mandatory in Denmark, but they are rare in the United States. These desks are starting to appear in some Canadian government offices. However, they cost as much as $2000.
Hedge conducted studies at two locations, an Intel Corporation site on the West Coast where employees performed extensive computer work and an insurance company in the Midwest where employees did moderate computer work. The results indicated that more than 80 percent of the employees favored the EHAWs to the fixed-height tables.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, standing desks were popular in the homes and offices of the rich. Most modern desks are 30 inches (76 cm.) but there is no such average for standing desks. It was common in the past to have a standing desk made to measure to the height of the user, since only the rich could afford desks. One way to get around the problem of accommodating many users at a single desk was to angle or slant to the writing surface.
Most standing desks have an open frame with few or little drawers, and a foot-rail (similar to those seen at a bar) to reduce back pain.
If these desks are good enough for Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, Ernst Hemmingway, and Donald Rumsfeld, then it’s good enough for me.
Now that you know how a standing desk might help your aching back and why, you might want one. I’ll show you how to make one easily and inexpensively out of 2 x 4’s and 3/4″ plywood.
Now that your abs have regained some strength, it’s time to move on to the three most effective ab exercises. We’ll start with the bicycle maneuver. This exercise is the most effective overall.
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Press your lower back into the floor, and put both hands behind your head (don’t pull on your head). Bring your right elbow over to your left knee while lifting your shoulders off the floor, and then bring your left elbow over to your right knee in a twisting, bicycle pedal motion. Continue to breathe naturally. Continue in a slow and controlled manner fully extending each leg on every repetition but keep it off the floor.
The reverse crunch is the second abdominal exercise to master.
It may seem like the reverse crunch is for the lower abs but, remember, the rectus abdominis is one long muscle, so you can’t separate upper from lower and the obliques do a lot of the work in this exercise.
1. Lie on the floor and place hands on the floor or behind the head.
2. Bring the knees in to 90 degrees with the calves parallel to the floor and your feet together.
3. Contract the abs to curl the hips off the floor.
4. Lower in a slow and controlled fashion and repeat for 12 reps per set.
5. It’s a very small movement — use your abs to lift your hips rather than swinging your legs to create momentum.
This may feel almost impossible to do at first, but you will learn to contract the abs properly. Then it may feel impossible to hold it at the top and lower the hips slowly. Don’t get discouraged, being fit is about consistent effort. You must exercise in some fashion every day of your life to remain fit. Making exercise a habit makes it easier and produces greater results with fewer injuries. The week-end warrior will be the guy who suffers the injuries and delays in his progress.
Abdominal strength prevents back, groin, and leg injuries. Get your abs in shape before engaging in more strenuous activities.
So your quest for fitness continues and like me, you’re lazy. That’s good, after you’ve read this you can lay down and do abdominal exercise without feeling guilty. You remember sit-ups and how much you hated doing them — me too. The reason you hated doing them was that you had to do so many to accomplish so little.
I’ve studied this problem because studying is easier than doing sit-ups. My studies have led me to some conclusions. Continue reading ‘No Gym Required: Abs Exercises’
One of the problems with office work is the long periods spent sitting. This is hell on the abs and back. We obsessive types work right through lunch and wonder why we are so hungry when we come-up for air.
To avoid this, I installed XNote Stopwatch and set it in countdown mode. Every 45 minutes it beeps and reminds me to get up and move around. Usually, that means doing some stretching, sit-ups, Hindu squats, or some push-ups. Just a few of each to get the blood flowing and remind the body of what it is really meant to be doing.
One of the problems with loosing weight is seeing where all the calories we take in come from. A study scheduled for publication in August’s American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that people who kept no daily food records lost an average of four kilograms, while those who kept six or more per week lost an average of eight kilograms.
This approach has been advocated for controlling personal and family budgets for decades. It is surprising that somebody had to go to the trouble and expense of conducting such a study to prove something so obvious. Simply put, you have to see your mistakes to make changes and you have to see your successes to repeat them.
Working from Home
More than a decade ago I fired the employees and got rid of the office downtown. Computer and telecommunication technology makes the “office” a nearly obsolete concept for many information workers.
Why I work from home:
- I only have to correct my own mistakes
- I can play jazz, Beethoven, or blast out Eye of the Tiger –nobody cares!
- No commute, no huge gas & parking bills
- I can get to work early, or not
- I can work late, or not
- I can use Dovorak on a QWERTY keyboard — nobody cares!